Liv’s Avail AR 3 is Your Ticket to All-Road Freedom
Takeaway: This is the bike equivalent of a “Wanna Get Away” plane ticket. Nothing too fancy, but all you really need to get lost.
The right bike for: Ditching the pavement for rail trails, gravel, or dirt.
What we love: The super-capable 32mm tires and the rack mounts—so you can load it up and go bikepacking.
Something we don’t: Sluggish mechanical disc brakes.
Price: $1,000
Weight: 21.9 lbs (XS)
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This bike is an ideal entry-level gravel and adventure machine, price and all. Liv product designers took the Avail their endurance road bike, made a few tweaks, with an eye toward creating an all-road version that’s capable on pavement, dirt, and gravel. The result: the Avail AR series. I rode the AR 3 on a bunch of multi-surface rides across cornfields, paved roads, flat singletrack, gravel paths, and even an abandoned golf course. The extra width in the tires gave me confidence and good grip on loose terrain, helping me take corners smoothly and stably. The carbon fork and D-shaped seatpost are both designed to help soak up chatter and bumps in the trail and smooth out the ride.
The mechanical Tektro disc brakes are a bit gummy but adequate once you learn to adjust how far in advance of your stop you pull the lever (read: earlier than if this Avail was equipped with hydraulic brakes). The nine-speed Shimano Sora drivetrain has a 11-34 tooth cassette, which offers plenty of variety for cruising down straight, flat paths and spinning slowly uphill, even when loaded down with bikepacking gear. Which is definitely an option—the Avail has front and rear rack mounts so you can pack up, hop on, and head for the hills for days at a time.
Avail AR Family
The all-new Avail AR line has three different models: the AR 1, AR 2, and AR 3. All three have aluminum frames and in-house stems, handlebars, saddles, and seat posts. The AR 1 ($1,550) and AR 2 ($1,300) differ from our test model in the upgraded drivetrain and hydraulic disc brake kits they employ: The AR 1 has an 11-speed Shimano 105 shifting and braking system, and the AR 2 has a 10-speed Shimano Tiagra drivetrain and Giant Conduct Disc brakes. Both also have tubeless Giant Gavia Fondo 2 tires, but just the AR 1 gets a wheel upgrade, employing a Giant P-R2 Disc wheel set. (If you’re interested in an affordable road bike for strictly pavement, check out the $700 Liv Avail 3 with standard tires and a Shimano Claris drivetrain.)
Geometry
The Avail AR 3 is designed to keep the rider comfortable for hours at a time, and the geometry put me at a moderately upright, relaxed position in the saddle. It’s still very much a road bike, but won’t stress your neck or lower back after a few hours like the positioning on some more race-oriented models. Compared to the on-road-only versions of the Avail, the AR 3 has a shorter seatpost, slightly smaller (tipped back further) seat tube angle, a shorter head tube, and a wider fork rake to put the rider in a more stable, aft position for attacking off-road sections.
LIV AVAIL AR 3 DETAILS
Frame: Aluminum
Fork: Carbon
Handlebar: Giant Connect
Drivetrain: Shimano Sora
Cassette: 11-34
Crankset: Shimano Sora 34/50
Brakes: Tektro MD-C550
Saddle: Liv Contact (forward)
Wheels: Giant S-R2 Disc wheelset
Tires: Giant S-R3 AC, 700x32
Tire clearance: 38mm
Extras: Pedal with toe clips/straps
Sizes: XXS, XS, S, M, L
Component Highlights
Liv wanted to create a $1,000 option for riders to lower the cost of entry and create a more accessible—though still quality—adventure bike, so the AR 3 features a lot of budget-friendly components. What really shines on the Avail AR 3 are the slightly-wider-than-usual Giant S-R3 AC 32mm tires. The tires can be run with a really low pressure for extra grip and float across dirt and gravel. And they’re a tiny bit thicker for better puncture protection and oversized casings to roll over rough ground more comfortably. The nine-speed Shimano Sora drivetrain is on the heavier end of the company’s offerings, and isn’t extremely precise or snappy. But it runs smoothly and has a great range for climbing steep pitches and grinding along flat gravel. The 34-tooth cog give you plenty of room to spin uphill at a comfortable cadence, and you can shift all the way down to the 11-tooth cog to let it rip along flat, paved sections. The carbon fork and Giant-brand D-shaped (instead of round, if you’re looking at a cross-section) seat post work together to damp road or trail chatter for a smoother ride. The stem, handlebar, and saddle are all the company’s lower-cost in-house brand, meaning they are on the heavier side but perform just fine.
Ride Impressions
The Liv Avail AR 3 is an excellent bike for new gravel riders. It felt very planted on gravel and dirt trails, and I really appreciated having the wide tires to run at a lower pressure, which definitely helped smooth out the ride. And on pavement, I didn’t have a difficult time getting it up to speed to keep up with riders on true endurance road bikes. Through messy, muddy conditions, the mechanical Tektro disc brakes are an advantage over having the rim variety, but in my opinion they aren’t particularly superior in any other scenario. On rolling, multi-surface routes, the Avail AR 3 is happy. And so is its rider.
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